The Coming of Conan (Amazon)

I think il dottore asked about the Conan books early in the thread. I hadn't seen anyone speak about them at all so I thought I'd chime in. I've read all but one of the original Robert Howard Conan books within the last year.

The Coming of Conan The Cimmerian
The Bloody Crown of Conan
The Conquering Sword of Conan

The books are essentially a collection of short stories about Conan. There isn't really a chronological order to any of it. The stories in these 3 books are presented in the original form in which Howard wrote the stories (some versions written around the 80's took the original content and changed it around a little). They are listed in order (books 1, 2, & 3) but you can pick them up in any order.

It's interesting to note that the Conan stories are some of the very first stories written in the "sword and sorcery" genre. The first Conan stories appeared in Weird Tales in 1932, which pre-dates even the Lord of the Rings. In some ways there are elements of these stories that we might consider "unrefined" by fantasy standards today. But considering that in many ways the Conan stories are essentially the genesis of the genre, it's inaccurate to call them unrefined.

Conan is a very simplistic, visceral character. He is cunning in the sense that his instincts are sharp and brutal. His character is a very enjoyable read for me. There isn't a whole lot of room for BS with Conan. He'd rather dive headlong into battle with a blade swinging in a barbarian fit of rage than arrange a complicated subterfuge or play the "Game of Houses" (to quote a Jordan term). It's actually comical when you read some of the stories when Conan is the King of Hyboria. He literally thinks to himself "How the hell did I end up like this...?" Conan solves his problems with the application of honed steel.

Howard himself is an interesting figure. He suffered from chronic depression throughout his life, ultimately leading to his suicide in 1936. A terminal illness that his mother suffered from ultimately fractured him to the core. After being informed that she would never regain conciousness he walked out to his car and shot himself. When asked about his inspiration for the Conan character, Howard claimed that he didn't make up these stories, he just wrote them the way Conan told him to write them. He said that at times he felt that Conan was actually standing behind him as he was writing the stories, making sure he didn't get them wrong.

All told I highly reccomend the Conan stories. The fabric of the stories weaves a fascinating and imaginitive canvas. Even if there is a bit of hero worship within them it's forgivable. Forget Arnold Swarzeneg...however the heck you spell it. Howard's Conan is the orignial vision and is an unforgetable character when you're introduced to him.

DeepSea gives good treatise.
What I liked most about the books is how intelligent Conan is. He picks up each language to which he is exposed, he makes good logic based on evidence. In AD&D terms, he is an all 18 character rolling 20's all day. What a life.